Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes has been named a James Norris Memorial Trophy finalist for the second year in a row, but can he win it all for the second year in a row?
Well, it's not exceedingly likely with fellow finalists Cale Makar and Zach Werenski out-scoring Hughes and playing in more games than him, but that is not the greatest indicator of success.
With 76 points in 68 games, Hughes was on pace for 92 points over a full 82-game season, which would put him level with Makar in scoring amongst defensemen. The edge Makar has is recording the first 30-goal season by a defenceman in 16 years.
Plus, both Makar and Werenski played on teams with immense talents. Makar had the benefit of playing with Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen before he was traded, Devon Toews, Martin Necas, and Valeri Nichushkin, among others.
Werenski is the de facto star on his team, but young stars like Kirill Marchenko, Dimitri Voronkov, Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, and Kent Johnson continue to improve and impress. As for Hughes? He had... well, nobody.
J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson both played poorly, even after the former was traded to New York on Jan. 31. By the end of the year, Quinn Hughes was the only Canucks player to exceed 50 points. No Canucks players hit the 30-goal threshold, either.
Marchenko and Fantilli both scored 31 goals, and Marchenko exploded for 74 points. I don't have to tell you how good MacKinnon and Rantanen are, and Necas quietly recorded 83 points this season.
Accounting for all of that, Hughes, as he did for the Canucks last year, did more with less. Without him, the Canucks were overwhelmingly likely to be a lottery team this season, while Makar and Werenski had capable understudies like Toews and Ivan Provorov if needed.
Without Hughes, the Canucks had to rely on Filip Hronek, who has 10 goals in his last two seasons combined and has never cracked 50 points. And beyond Hronek, a sea of typecast veterans and prospects cutting their teeth at the NHL level.
Hughes, without a doubt, deserves to win the Norris again this season.